Security's Everyman

Security's Everyman

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

When Things Don't Go As You Plan

Last week the company that I worked for hit a major road block that threw it for a loop. It really hurt financially and caused them to go into "emergency survival" mode. Part of that involved cost cutting and layoffs. Yesterday I became a causality of the cutbacks. My boss called me in at 4:00 and told me that he had pulled all the strings that he could to save my job, but had lost the battle. I saw it coming. I knew last week that it was a possibility so I started getting my house in order. Then yesterday morning when I came in I knew that something wasn't right. I could just feel it and I was right.

A few things happened that made me smile in spite of the "dreariness" of what was happening. First, it was obvious that my boss was not happy to have to lay me off. He told me that he had spent the last 3 day working every possible angle to prevent this from happening. Once he realized that he couldn't win he started working his network calling people and telling them that he had someone that they needed to hire. He called about 15 people trying to either get me another position or get some leads for me.
Second, as we left his office and went to my cube to collect my laptop my phone rang. It was a local Recruiter calling to talk to me about a position that they needed to fill. I have an interview tomorrow at 4:00. :)
Third, my only cell phone is a Blackberry that the company provides and pays for. He agreed to let me keep if for a couple of days while I got a new phone and transferred my number. One thing that he had to do though was disable my network and email account and then he was going to initiate an "erase" of my Blackberry via the Blackberry Enterprise Server. So he disabled my account and sent me a test email. It appeared on my Blackberry. He then told the BES server to erase my Blackberry. Nothing happened. He tried it again. Still nothing. This went on for about an hour as I was packing my office. He eventually gave up and just deleted my account from the BES server so I couldn't send or receive email on the Blackberry. Even the network didn't want me to go. :)

Anyway, I'm looking for a position if any of you are hiring or know someone who is. I'm in Atlanta, Ga and that is the place that I'm looking first. I'm open to relocating also. Lexington, Ky or Cincinnati, OH are my first choices, but I would consider other locations as well.

Here is a little about my work experience. I'm a CISSP, and my background is networking and security in a Windows environment. I'm experienced in WAN and LAN technologies, project management, team leadership, working with vendors from first meeting to negotiating contracts, physical security, systems analysis. I'm experienced in dealing with end users and Upper Management.

Hopefully you already realize that I have a passion for security and making it understandable for everyone. I like talking about security and helping others see it from a different perspective if possible. I also want to help those in the security profession understand their users better and learn how to relate better to them and understand where they are coming from.

Thanks for letting me "ramble" and I'd appreciate any help that any of you can give me. I'll probably post my resume online soon and I'll post a link here once it's up. I'd also like to say thanks to the guys in the TCC of the Security Catalysts Community for all of their words of support and encouragement during this time.



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man, that sucks. I'm very sorry. I just sent you an email to your Yahoo! account. Let me know if I can help.

Rob said...

That is a truly sh*tty thing to happen. Unless you want to move to Spain I'm not going to be much help I'm afraid, but we're all with you in spirit.
Look on the bright side, you'll most likely get another position in days rather than months, you're obviously talented and hey, you're famous!

Anonymous said...

Andy,

All things happen for a reason. You will land on your feet and you will do well.

Unknown said...

I'm sorry to hear that, but I have no doubt that you will come out of this doing well. Good luck in the search.

-Quiet Subscriber

Unknown said...

That's no good, but I am confidant this can and will be a step up and forward for you. Don't forget that if you need to, it is not a bad thing to get on unemployment for a bit, especially since a layoff is typically a qualifying incident!

Interviews and such already, good news! :)

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